When Xu Zifan returned home, the Xu family all came out upon hearing the commotion. Xu Aiguo, after closing the courtyard gate, was the first to say, "Dad, are you still angry? Why did you go to the brigade leader's house for dinner? The three of us brothers are here; how could we let you go hungry?"
Xu Dawei pushed up his glasses and stepped forward. "Yes, Dad, my older brother cooked for you last night. I was even discussing with Zhang Wen about asking you what you wanted to eat today. How could we not take care of you?"
Zhang Wen forced a stiff smile and agreed, "I heard Dad, you're going to hunt and trade with people. You absolutely mustn't go. It's dangerous in the mountains. We'll gather the things for you and you'll have everything you need. Besides, even though we've separated the family, we're still family."
Xu Zifan looked at them with his hands behind his back, "What are you doing now? Just say what you want to say, I need to rest."
The boys exchanged glances, and Xu Aiguo, looking a little upset, said in a low voice, "Dad, we're all your own sons. Please show us some love and don't go around telling people we're unfilial. We three brothers will definitely be filial to you, and we'll make sure your grandchildren are too. If you have any problems, just tell us. Don't let the whole brigade laugh at our family."
Xu Zifan laughed and said nonchalantly, "I said you were unfilial? That's not true. People advised me not to do anything and to let you provide me with good food and drink, but I just told them I didn't need it. I don't know what they were thinking."
But that's how things are; word spreads quickly, and who knows what it'll become. Just like back then, when you guys would occasionally talk about family matters outside, it seemed like nothing, but when word got out, everyone said I was lazy, good-for-nothing, and unloving. Isn't that the same thing?
Now you know the bitterness of spreading rumors, so from now on, watch your mouths and don't blurt out anything, or one day the blame will fall on your own heads.
Xu Zifan patted the dirt off his trousers and said calmly, "Alright, all your current frustrations are because I suffered the same things back then. The innocent are innocent, and now no one is talking about me anymore, right? In time, everyone will naturally know what kind of people you are. Go back to your rooms."
As he walked toward his room, he said, "I'm tired from hunting, so don't bother me."
Xu Xiuzhen asked anxiously, "Dad, when are you moving?"
"One month later." Xu Zifan said, then closed the door, shutting them out.
Xu Dajun questioned Xu Xiuzhen disapprovingly, "Xiuzhen, what's wrong with you? Are you kicking your father out? I have nothing, where do you expect me to move to?"
Xu Xiuzhen rolled her eyes at him. "That house is my dowry, of course I have to ask. If you care about Dad, then arrange it for him. Dad is only angry because of your daughter, why are you yelling at me?"
Xu Xiuzhen turned around and went back to her room. She was angry that Xu Zifan wouldn't buy her a job and even asked the villagers to introduce her to some country bumpkins. She was also angry that her brothers wouldn't help her. Now she just wanted to rely on herself and didn't care about them at all!
Xu Shengnan pulled Xu Dajun and Liu Xia back to their room, somewhat impatiently advising them, "Mom and Dad, can't you just accept reality? If you keep arguing like this, how will the family survive? Grandpa clearly doesn't want to talk to us, and if we keep bothering him, we'll only annoy him more. Now that we've separated the family, the most important thing is to find a way to earn more money, rebuild the house, and live a good life on our own."
Liu Xia retorted angrily, "Live a good life? All you do is talk. Your father and I work every day, while you just shirk your responsibilities and end up doing cattle herding work for only 4 work points a day. And you still have the nerve to say such things?"
Xu Shengnan's face was grim. "Mom, what have you earned after working every day for so many years? What savings have you accumulated? I'm trying to come up with a plan. You just wait and see, I'll bring things back tomorrow."
Liu Xia got anxious and reached out to grab her, "What are you doing? Can't you stop messing around? Why can't you just live a normal life?"
"Mom, don't worry about it. I know what I'm doing. I promise I'll make sure our family lives a good life." Xu Shengnan got up and went back to her room, ignoring them. She was furious. Her parents were like pushovers when they were with her father, blindly obedient, but they would lecture her when they were with her. It was the same old story.
Having witnessed the prosperity of later generations, she wouldn't let their ignorance hold her back. Xu Shengnan drank a small cup of spiritual spring water to replenish her energy, deciding to ask for leave the next day to go hunting. Perhaps she could use the spiritual spring water to ripen any valuable herbs she might find!
The first wife and her husband couldn't control their daughter and were constantly sighing. The second wife and her husband, on the other hand, taught their children not to argue with others when they went out, and to insist that the truth would prevail. If they really had no other choice, they would push the blame onto Xu Shengnan, since everyone knew that she had made the old man faint from anger.
The third wife's child was still young, and the couple whispered about trading things on the black market. They both thought Xu Zifan was still angry and would calm down after a while. How could an old woman move out on her own? Impossible.
Shao Hua relayed their situation to Xu Zifan, who nodded in satisfaction. He didn't care whether they truly believed him or not, as long as they didn't bother him. That night, he tended to the medicinal herb field in his spatial dimension and then slept directly in the bamboo house.
As for building a warehouse, the only materials he can use right now are trees from the mountains. Although it's easy to build a house in the space by simply moving his mind, it's much more strenuous to go to the mountains to cut down trees and make them into planks. So he'll put it on hold for now. Anyway, there's no wind or rain in the space, and he'll just build the house to keep it tidy.
Xu Zifan slept soundly through the night, and the next day he ate a nutritious breakfast at the empty house as usual, then went out early to go up the mountain. Xu Dajun tried to stop him, but Xu Zifan just waved his hand behind his back, indicating that he didn't need to worry about him.
Seeing this, Xu Shengnan ran to the brigade leader's house to ask for leave, saying she was worried about her grandfather's safety and wanted to go into the mountains to look for his.
The brigade leader naturally disagreed, but Xu Shengnan kept saying that women can hold up half the sky and recited several quotations, which gave the brigade leader a headache. He could only nod in agreement and told her to look in the outer areas and not to go deep into the mountains.
Xu Shengnan readily agreed, but once inside the mountains, she ran straight into the deepest part of the mountains!
She had never heard of anyone in her village being bitten to death, so she thought there were no ferocious wild animals in the mountains. She was very bold, hiding from Xu Zifan while searching for medicinal herbs and prey.
She only knew a limited number of medicinal herbs, like ginseng and lingzhi, and after searching for a long time without success, she became somewhat frustrated. Then she started looking for game, determined to catch four or five wild animals to take home and impress everyone. Hunting was a skill in this day and age; who said you had to work in the fields?
[Shaohua: Host, Xu Shengnan has been detected entering the mountains, located 400 meters from your 7 o'clock position.]
Xu Zifan dug up the tiny ginseng from the soil and transplanted it into his spatial dimension. He clapped his hands and laughed, "[Find me a few poisonous snakes, wild boars will do too. The old man didn't do anything to wrong her, but she tormented him to death with his eyes wide open; he should at least settle the score.]."
[Shaohua: Host, the beast's location is marked in blue, and Xu Shengnan's is marked in red.]
"[Understood.]" Xu Zifan replied, striding towards the blue-marked location. He found the snakes and wild boar, then ran over and waved his hand, teleporting them into his spatial dimension, where they were both imprisoned in the monster cage. After catching three snakes and a wild boar, Xu Zifan rushed to Xu Shengnan's location, placed a concealment talisman on himself, and remained completely silent.
Xu Shengnan saw a pheasant, panting and struggling to catch it for a long time without success. She cursed a couple of times in frustration, then carefully took out a drop of spiritual spring water and put it in a soup spoon, patiently waiting for the pheasant to approach.
Xu Zifan hid behind a tree and released the three snakes. The snakes, still startled, wanted to attack as soon as they were free, but couldn't find a target. Suddenly, they all smelled a very tempting scent and immediately slithered towards it.
Xu Shengnan was staring at the pheasant and didn't notice the three snakes approaching from behind. When one of the snakes coiled around her, she screamed in horror. When she turned around, she saw three snakes as thick as her arms. Her vision went black and she almost fainted!
Ultimately, her survival instinct prevailed. She took out a knife from her spatial storage and slashed at the snake's head, but the snake only tightened its coils. She ran away from the two snakes while continuing to slash at the snakes clinging to her body. Fortunately, the two snakes were drawn by the spiritual spring water and didn't chase her, giving her time to escape. However, the snakes clinging to her body bit her wrist before she could strike their vital spot!
Xu Shengnan finally killed the snake on her body and hurriedly ran away. The two snakes had already licked the soup spoon clean and were chasing after her again.
At this moment, Xu Zifan released the wild boar, which angrily spotted Xu Shengnan and chased after her. Xu Shengnan turned around and was terrified, her face turning deathly pale, her whole body trembling. She couldn't help but resent the space—why couldn't people enter? Why couldn't living things enter? If it couldn't even protect its owner, what kind of treasure was it?!
Xu Shengnan, with her sharp eyes, spotted the soup ladle on the ground. A brilliant idea flashed in her mind, and she hurriedly took some spiritual spring water and sprinkled it on the ground before frantically running down the mountain. The angry wild boar and the two snakes stopped to lick the spiritual spring water, giving Xu Shengnan time to escape successfully.
As soon as she disappeared, Xu Zifan emerged from the space, ran to the vicinity of the wild boar and snake, and threw a handful of medicinal powder, which knocked them all down.
Taking advantage of their heavy drugging, he swiftly and decisively killed them with the knife Xu Shengnan had dropped.
He stroked his chin and pondered for a moment, then collected the three snake corpses, leaving only the wild boar's. He then went into his spatial dimension to tend to the medicinal field while waiting, having Shao Hua monitor the surrounding activity.
Xu Shengnan ran down the mountain and was still terrified when she saw the people gathering pig feed on the hillside. When they asked her what was wrong, she turned around and saw that nothing was chasing her, then her legs went weak and she collapsed to the ground, bursting into tears.
The women who were gathering pig feed were all startled and rushed over to help her up, asking her what had happened.
Xu Shengnan cried so hard she could barely breathe, "Wild boar...and snakes...snakes...".
"What? Where? How did this thing get here?"
"Oh! What happened to your wrist? It's...it's been bitten by a snake! A poisonous snake!"
"What should we do? Quickly go and call the team leader and Xu Shengnan's parents, and get her to the clinic right away!"
"The wound has turned black, what should I do? What should I do?"
The women were extremely anxious when Xu Shengnan realized that she had been bitten by a venomous snake, and the area around the wound was black and purple!
Even though she had been reborn, she had never experienced anything like this before, and she was immediately terrified, trembling like a leaf. She suddenly remembered the spiritual spring and wanted to drink from it, but she remembered that she couldn't be discovered. She hurriedly pushed them away, got up, and ran away, ignoring their shouts.
Once she was out of sight, she quickly drank the half-bowl of spiritual spring water she had saved in her spatial storage, even licking the bowl clean. Then she regretted giving the spring water to Xu Dajun and his wife; she should have kept it for herself. What if it couldn't save her life this time?